Tuesday, 20 December 2016

Happy first day of winter although I think the past ten days or so of snow and cold were enough winter for my liking. Temperatures have risen and the snow is melting and although a white Christmas would have been nice, I'm quite okay with milder weather.

Sunday, 18 December 2016

It's snowing here, snow upon old snow and rain in the forecast. It won't be pretty!

Henny Penny, this picture of Cinnamon is just because you asked about her. She's doing great. DH moved her hutch close to the back door, I can go out and give her attention without having to put boots on! Because of the cold we were putting her into the sleeping part ( on the left)for night but she wasn't having anything to do with being shut up and soon learned she could push hard and get out so we gave up.

Funny story about this square. At one point I cut this recipe out of a magazine but didn't realize I didn't manage to get the entire recipe. So I sort of winged it and I must say by the response so far it's a keeper.

This square calls for condensed milk so you just know it's going to be yummy. While its hot you sprinkle chocolate chips on top and sort of swirl them. My swirling looks odd but if I set this in front of my sons it would be gone in 5 minutes. Mind you, they would need coffee to go with it because it is very sweet.
Speaking of odd, my French breads in the background look lumpy as usual. No finesse to my baking that's for sure.

One last picture. My granddaughter came by for a short visit this morning and while we chatted she braided my hair. I love how she does it in 2 minutes flat and it's not too tight.

This has been a long and definitely random post. Thanks for reading it anyway.

Saturday, 17 December 2016

Hello dear friends.... Don't you just love Susan Wheeler's illustrations?
I thought I'd post some here today instead of the recipes I was going to post about. We probably all have had enough recipes for now.

The Hummingbird Story? Well, we've had two females that have been around, one is very bossy and territorial never letting the other one close to the feeder. Well, this morning she was out there bright and early defending 'her' territory when a large male Anna's zoomed in. She did her usual threatening moves but he was not impressed and, in fact, he chased her off and she got a taste of her own medicine. Now he sits on a bare branch and watches for intruders. So my new feeder with 4 lovely feeding spots still only serves to keep one Hummer alive. Does anyone know how far away I would have to put a different feeder so this male would allow another Hummingbird access?

The accumulated ice on the bedroom skylight. The tall trees are on the neighbours yard but overhang onto ours. All night frozen lumps of icy snow fell on the skylight. I was afraid it would crack!! Didn't sleep very well.

It sure is pretty though. Hope you're off to a great start this week, the last full week of school before the break.

Saturday, 10 December 2016

It's still snowing here with no end in sight until Monday. Certainly is beautiful!
My DIL took some amazing pictures of birds in our back yard. The Chickadee seemed not too afraid and the Hummingbird, all puffed up to keep warm, was not about to use needless energy just because a person was a few feet away with a camera.

We enjoy hot pepper jelly and I thought I'd look up some recipes on-line then make my own version. I didn't want to make more than a jar of each before I even knew how it would turn out. The jar on the left is a basic mixture of vinegar, sugar, sweet peppers and also hot ones. I used Bird's Eye peppers that I got at the East Indian market ( these peppers apparently are widely grown in India). They are hotter than Jalapenos and I had to guess how many to put in for a small batch ( I used 4)

The jar on the right called for Pineapple and hot peppers in it...nothing else ( altho' I did add a bit of sugar and some of the juice in the can).. So far I have only one vote for that one so I doubt I'll do more of it.

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine. It's a Fudge-topped Shortbread....it's in the middle of the page here. It's a basic shortbread base onto which you pour a basic Condensed milk and chocolate chip fudge. Very simple to do and I think mine turned out fine. One thing I did change is that I used an 8X12 pan instead of the 9X13 called for. Not too sure how they managed to cover theirs with what the recipe called for. I find that is a common problem in recipes with pictures. The finished product looks nice and thick but when you make it at home it's way too skimpy.

Here's mine before I chilled it enough to be able to cut it up and put it in the freezer....in my impatience I did try to lift it out too soon and it wrinkled a bit, as you can see.

Friday, 9 December 2016

We awoke to a snow-covered world today and the snow continues to fall. So beautiful!!
I've been going out every hour or so to bring the Hummingbird feeder in, thawing and warming slightly before going to hang it out again, For next winter I'm going to have more than one feeder since there have been issues becaue one particular Hummer likes to defend its food source. Another thing I mean to do is have is enough feeders so I can exchange warm ones for frozen and eliminate the need for the warming up step.

The ground-feeding birds are not forgotten. I swept an area clear of snow and spread seed. No use putting down much because the snow quickly covers the seed. Keeping all my feathered friends fed is certainly keeping me hopping. Our snow never stays around very long and all too soon we'll be back to rain.

So far I've noticed countless Juncos and Chickadees, quite a few Sparrows, one Spotted Towhee and one Robin. Towhees are regular winter guests but the Robin must be very sorry he didn't go South with his flock.

Wednesday, 7 December 2016

It's very cold today. Minus 5 C with a windchill of minus 12 ( -5C is about 23F) . For us this is cold!! So I decided to warm up the kitchen and bake my Weinachts Stollen. This traditional German fruit bread is served only during the Christmas season. The first two pictures
are from the internet and look so perfect. Then there are the ones I made. I console myself with the fact that at least mine turned out very tasty. My cousin and her husband came by for tea and he couldn't get over how good it was. I wish I could make my baking look like the pictures though.
Maybe if I put lots of icing on them will hide the lumpiness.

Since I intend to freeze some I didn't ice them nor sprinkle icing sugar over them. I'll do that when I serve them.

My mom used to make icebox cookies that also used the glaced fruit. I have made them in the past but must have lost the recipe. I got one off the internet and it turned out just like I remember them.

It's so cold that the Hummingbird feeder froze. We brought it in for night and by lunchtime I noticed that the Hummingbird was hovering around the spot where it should be. I hurried out and I don't think I was 5 feet away before it was feeding. The Chickadee feeder was full of sunflower seeds and I spread regular bird seed on the ground for the other birds. I don't want to run out of food for the birds while this cold weather lasts.

I hope you are all keeping warm and cozy, maybe doing some of your baking?

Monday, 5 December 2016

We walked in snow this morning. It was very close to being rain and fell very wetly. Later it turned to the soft flakes that are so pretty to watch but later still we were back to light rain. The next two days are forecast to be cold and clear but by Thursday more snow!

Daughter #2 has this week off work and we went browsing in a delightful store full of pretty Christmassy things. She had to cut our shopping short to go to a hair appointment but tomorrow we'll be going to do more shops! Such fun to share the time with her.

Thursday, 1 December 2016

I had a fun time at the thrift store yesterday. I found some pretty Pansy patterned dishes. I already had these 3 tea cups and the small platter...

and these are the new items.
I now have enough to warrant a small cupboard just for Pansy dishes.

There was a stack of saucers with no matching cups. I chose these 4 lovelies. Who knows. Maybe someday I'll find their matching cups.

These Sadler Christmas tea cups were an especially exciting find for me. Today I rearranged my cupboards so I have a designated shelf now for Christmas dishes. I had fun.

This is the way my mother would store her tea cups and I do too if I have 4 matching ones.

Last of all I looked in the basket that has odd cups marked very cheaply. This one appealed to me.For a dollar I made it part of my collection of "odds".

So I spent my morning finding spots for the new dishes. At one point I made a pot of tea and enjoyed it in one of the Christmas tea cups. I also found some things I could put in the donation box and will try to find more.

After school the grands put up both Nativity sets and I think that finishes my decorating. More photos to come.

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About Me

A journal of activities and thoughts where I write about my very ordinary life. I'm a wife, mom, and granny. I enjoy decorating my house for the seasons.
I love flowers and most of the large city lot we live on is devoted to shrubs and perennials. I am fortunate to live close to a small lake right in the middle of the city and walk there almost every morning.